A Brooklyn Federal Trial Room outfitted with plexiglass and social distancing protocols on February 4, 2022. Photo: Ryland West/ALM
In New York's state courts, journalists are generally allowed to take photos and video of court proceedings, so long as they don't capture jurors during trials or otherwise disrupt proceedings. But the federal courts have long been a black box for visual journalism. Broadcasting or taking pictures from federal courtrooms has been prohibited since 1946. Through the years, federal courts have studied the issue at certain points and even launched a pilot program in 2011 to allow cameras in the courtrooms of 14 U.S. district courts. But the vast majority of the 94 U.S. district courts—including the four in New York—still have bans in place. The only images that are allowed to be disseminated from federal courtrooms are the works of sketch artists. Thus, photographers and camera operators are relegated to the exterior, often forcing them to wait in extreme temperatures to shoot images of press conferences or lawyers and litigants coming to and leaving the courthouse. However, on certain rare occasions, federal court administrators allow photographers to come inside to get pictures of courtrooms that much of the public never see. The Eastern District of New York recently invited the Law Journal into its courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn for a look at COVID-19 retrofits installed in one of its courtrooms. Opened in 2006, the 15-story Theodore Roosevelt Federal Courthouse was designed by architect César Pelli and is one of the newest courthouses in the city.